Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary

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Mulligans Flat
Australian Capital Territory
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Drone capture of the woolshed in Mulligans Flat.jpg
Drone capture of Mulligans Flat by Alex Humphreys
Australia Capital Territory location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Mulligans Flat
Coordinates 35°10′S149°10′E / 35.16°S 149.16°E / -35.16; 149.16 Coordinates: 35°10′S149°10′E / 35.16°S 149.16°E / -35.16; 149.16
Established1994
Area12.53 km² [1]
Managing authoritiesWoodlands and Wetlands Trust, ACT Government
Website Mulligans Flat
See also Australian Capital Territory
protected areas

Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary (previously Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve) is a protected area situated in the Gungahlin district in north Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. It has several trails for walking, running and cycling. The sanctuary functions as a fieldwork site for researchers studying native ecology. [2]

Contents

Geography

The area consists of woodland, open grassland and a large dam surrounded by a fox-proof fence. Despite being freehold and then leasehold grazing land prior to becoming a reserve, Mulligans Flat has been subjected to less overall farming pressure than other areas at similar proximity to human activity. [3]

As a result, the uniquely intact habitat was given protected status as crucial habitat for threatened wildlife including the golden sun moth, the striped legless lizard [4] and numerous other plant and animal species. [5]

Approximately 150 species of wild flowers are found in the sanctuary under stands of 6 different species of gum tree, including threatened Blakely's Red Gum (Eucalyptus blakelyi) and Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), which are valuable nest trees for the vulnerable Superb Parrot. [6]

Mulligans Flat is a sister sanctuary of Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary. [7] Its chief managing authority is the ACT Government with support from the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust [8] with parallel arrangements for Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

History

Aboriginal heritage

Mulligans Flat is situated on Ngunnawal land. There has been disagreement in the past over traditional ownership in the Canberra region, including the tablelands where Mulligans Flat is located. [9]

Old Coach Road, situated in the valley where Mulligans Flat meets Goorooyarroo, is the site of a Ngunnawal Songline. Stone artefacts and tree scarring have been found throughout the reserve and nearby Throsby Offsets. [10] [5]

Prior to the heavy clearing and farming practices of the nineteenth century, the area had a permanent water supply which is thought to have existed in the form of ponds connected by inconsistent channels. [11] This landscape would have provided food and other resources in the form of a diverse biome of flora and fauna sufficient to support a local community. A volcanic ridge exists along the east of the sanctuary, and to the west, a geological fault line caused a quartz ridge to develop which can be observed via satellite imagery. These quarry sites provided materials for making tools which were used and traded by locals and travelers.

Some contemporary methods used by Aboriginal peoples in caring for country on Mulligans Flat include land management, advocacy and working with groups such as the ACT Parks and Conservation Service's Aboriginal Ranger Program. [12]

The Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (TOAC) occasionally runs educational sessions using Mulligans Flat as a teaching location. [13] A welcome to county is included in a self-guided walking tour App.

Sanctuary history

In 1992, seven environmental groups submitted a proposal [14] to the Minister for the Environment for a nature reserve to protect Mulligans Flat from urban development. The area had already been observed as providing habitat for threatened plant and animal species, including six out of seven rare woodland bird species recorded by the community-based Canberra Ornithologist's Group. Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve was subsequently established as part of the Canberra Nature Park in 1994. Protection was extended to include Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve following its establishment in 2004, and to the Throsby Offsets in 2014. [15] [5] Further community participation was encouraged through the establishing of the Friends of Mulligans Flat in 2011 which allows members to take part in ongoing conservation activities such as weed control.

The Mulligans Flat-Goorooyarroo Woodland Experiment [2] was established through a partnership between the ACT Government, CSIRO, and the Australian National University (ANU). Ongoing collaboration between these and the sanctuary's management board has enabled restoration projects to take place. Some examples are the reintroduction of several species, habitat recovery, and the monitoring of impacts of a range of management practices. [15] [3]

Conservation

The sanctuary is described in promotional material as an 'outdoor laboratory', [16] and seeks to achieve ecosystem recovery and restoration through increasing species diversity and available habitat.

It is estimated that 30% remains of the site's original eucalyptus woodland. Despite this, Mulligans Flat and Goorooyarroo together provide the country's largest remaining contiguous area of White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum grassy woodland and derived native grassland, [15] which is listed as critically endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and as endangered in the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1990. [17] [18]

In 2011, Mulligans Flat received classification as an IUCN Category IV protected area. [19] [20]

Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve Mulligans Flat and Goorooyarroo nature reserves.jpg
Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve

Predator-proof fence

Construction began in 2008 and was completed in 2009 on an 11.5 kilometre fox-proof fence to protect 485 hectares. This was followed by the removal of introduced competitors and predators including rabbits, cats and red foxes, in preparation for reintroducing native species. Mulligans Flat was the first Australian woodland reserve to successfully eradicate foxes, cats and then rabbits. [21]

In 2018, the fence was expanded and the protected area nearly tripled to 1253 hectares. [22]

Other fences assisting with species management include the kangaroo [3] and bettong [23] exclosures, which provide information to researchers studying restoration processes in the sanctuary.

Reintroduced species

Reintroductions at Mulligans Flat have taken place primarily through partnership with the ANU Fenner School. [24] [2]

The first species to be successfully reintroduced in Mulligans Flat was the eastern bettong (bettongia giamardi) in 2012. Thirty-five individuals were released into the sanctuary following the translocation of Tasmanian bettongs into nearby Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. [25] This species had been locally extinct on the Australian mainland for 80 years, and its return allowed researchers from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, who led the project, to study the results of re-establishing an ecosystem engineer in an environment concurrent with other restoration practices. [26] This research resulted in a transformational paper in reintroduction biology on 'Translocation Tactics [27] ' which informed all subsequent reintroductions.

Bush-stone curlews (burhinus grallarius) were reintroduced in 2014 after being absent from the ACT for 40 years. [28] Twelve individuals were placed in a soft-release aviary within Mulligans Flat before being released into the wider sanctuary. This initial release faced some setbacks as several of the birds flew over the fence and were predated by foxes. Over the following two years, 21 more individuals were released using a similar soft-release method, although their flight feathers were clipped before being allowed out of the aviary. As a result, the birds had more time to adjust to their surroundings, and by the time their flight feathers grew back in they had settled in to Mulligans Flat as their permanent home. [29]

In 2016, eastern quolls (dasyurus viverrinus), another locally extinct species, were reintroduced to Mulligans Flat. Half of the 16 individuals were sourced from Tasmania and the other half from a captive breeding program in Mt Rothwell, Victoria. This initial reintroduction was successful despite several individuals climbing over the fox-proof fence and being promptly eaten by foxes. [30] The remaining female quoll population all produced pouch young, resulting in as estimated 25 to 30 additions to the population. This marked the first breeding of the species in Canberra in an estimated 80 years. [31]

A second translocation was carried out in 2017 and had a higher rate of survival at 92%. [32] These individuals settled immediately into their new territory. They benefited from other restoration processes taking place in the sanctuary, in particular the addition of wood debris which increased the invertebrate population, and by extension the quoll's food source. [33] The presence of quolls from the previous translocation was considered a contributing factor in the lower number of attempted escapes, as the area was proven suitable habitat.

Other species that have re-introduced or re-established within Mulligans Flat include the New Holland Mouse [34] and the vulnerable Brown Tree-creeper. [35] The New Holland mouse, like the eastern bettong, was locally extinct and has a captive bred population at ANU.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Australian Capital Territory as of 2014 contains 46 separate protected areas with a total land area of 1,302 km2 (503 sq mi) or 55.5% of the territory's area, and which managed by Territory and Municipal Services of the ACT government:

Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is a 54.5 square kilometres (21.0 sq mi) protected area, on the fringe of Namadgi National Park. Tidbinbilla is a short drive from the capital city of Australia, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numbat</span> Species of Australian marsupial

The numbat, also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites.

Species reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild, from captivity or other areas where the organism is capable of survival. The goal of species reintroduction is to establish a healthy, genetically diverse, self-sustaining population to an area where it has been extirpated, or to augment an existing population. Species that may be eligible for reintroduction are typically threatened or endangered in the wild. However, reintroduction of a species can also be for pest control; for example, wolves being reintroduced to a wild area to curb an overpopulation of deer. Because reintroduction may involve returning native species to localities where they had been extirpated, some prefer the term "reestablishment".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quoll</span> Genus of marsupial mammals

Quolls are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Another two species are known from fossil remains in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits in Queensland. Genetic evidence indicates that quolls evolved around 15 million years ago in the Miocene, and that the ancestors of the six species had all diverged by around four million years ago. The six species vary in weight and size, from 300 g (11 oz) to 7 kg (15 lb). They have brown or black fur and pink noses. They are largely solitary, but come together for a few social interactions such as mating which occurs during the winter season. A female gives birth to up to 30 pups, but the number that can be raised to adulthood is limited by the number of teats (6–7). They have a life span of 1–5 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woylie</span> Species of marsupial

The woylie or brush-tailed bettong is a small, critically endangered, gerbil-like mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, digging for fungi to eat. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. Once widespread, the woylie mostly died out from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes. It is currently restricted to two small areas in Western Australia. There are two subspecies: B. p. ogilbyi in the west, and the now-extinct B. p. penicillata in the southeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern bettong</span> Species of marsupial

The eastern bettong, also known as the southern or Tasmanian bettong, is a small, hopping, rat-like mammal native to grassy forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is active at night and feeds on fungi and plant roots. Like other marsupials, it carries its young in a pouch. The eastern bettong is under pressure by introduced predators and habitat loss. The subspecies on mainland Australia is extinct, but populations of the Tasmanian subspecies have been reintroduced there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forde, Australian Capital Territory</span> Suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Forde is a northern suburb of the Canberra, Australia district of Gungahlin. It is named in honour of Frank Forde, who served as Prime Minister of Australia for a week in 1945 following the untimely death of John Curtin. The suburb abuts the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary and is adjacent to the suburbs of Amaroo, Throsby and Bonner. The suburb is bound to the south and west respectively by Horse Park Drive and Gundaroo Road. Settlement of the suburb began in 2008 and it had an estimated population of 4,308 at the 2016 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern quoll</span> Species of marsupial

The eastern quoll is a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial (dasyurid), and one of six extant species of quolls. Endemic to Australia, they occur on the island state of Tasmania, but were considered extinct on the mainland after 1963. The species has been reintroduced to fox-proof fenced sanctuaries Victoria in 2003 and to the Australian Capital Territory in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western quoll</span> Species of marsupial

The western quoll is Western Australia's largest endemic mammalian carnivore. One of the many marsupial mammals native to Australia, it is also known as the chuditch. The species is currently classed as near-threatened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boodie</span> Species of marsupial

The boodie, also known as the burrowing bettong or Lesueur's rat-kangaroo, is a small, furry, rat-like mammal native to Australia. Once common throughout the continent, it is now restricted to a few coastal islands. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it lives in burrows and is active at night when it forages for fungi, roots, and other plant matter. It is about the size of a rabbit and, like other marsupials, carries its young in a pouch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western barred bandicoot</span> Species of marsupial

The Western barred bandicoot, also known as the Marl, is a small species of bandicoot; now extinct across most of its former range, the western barred bandicoot only survives on offshore islands and in fenced sanctuaries on the mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater stick-nest rat</span> Species of rodent

The greater stick-nest rat, also known as the house-building rat and wopilkara is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. They are about the size of a small rabbit and construct large nests of interwoven sticks. Once widespread across southern Australia, the population was reduced after European colonisation to a remnant outpost on South Australia's Franklin Islands. The species has since been reintroduced to a series of protected and monitored areas, with varying levels of success.

Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre is the largest feral-predator-free ecosystem in Victoria, Australia. It is located just north of the You Yangs, near the town of Little River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parish of Goorooyarroo</span> Cadastral in New South Wales, Australia

Goorooyarroo Parish is a parish of Murray County, New South Wales, a cadastral unit for use on land titles.

Scotia Sanctuary is a 650 km2 (250 sq mi) nature reserve in the south-western plains of New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the border with South Australia. It is located in the Murray Mallee subregion of the Murray-Darling Depression Bioregion, 150 km (93 mi) south of the city of Broken Hill. It is owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC).

Scottsdale Reserve is a 1,328-hectare (3,280-acre) nature reserve on the Murrumbidgee River in south-central New South Wales, Australia. It is 79 kilometres (49 mi) south of Canberra, and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north of Bredbo. It is owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia (BHA), which purchased it in 2006. The purchase was supportive of projects aiming to connect existing fragmented remnant habitat such as K2C. Since the 1870s up until 2006, the land was used for agriculture – primarily sheep grazing with some minor cropping. A significant component of the Reserve has been cleared of native vegetation.

Wadderin Sanctuary is a nature conservation project within the Shire of Narembeen in the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia. It is about 290 km east of Perth and 8 kilometres north of the town of Narembeen. Wadderin is surrounded by a fox- and cat-proof fence that was completed in early 2008. This has allowed the reintroduction of fauna that is uncommon or locally extinct in the wheatbelt, and includes species that are considered threatened at the national level.

Heirisson Prong is a community managed reserve established for the conservation of threatened mammals at Shark Bay in Western Australia. The reserve is at the point of a long narrow peninsula of the same name that juts into Shark Bay from the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerrabomberra Wetlands</span> Protected area in Australian Capital Territory

Jerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve is a nationally important group of small wetlands in central Canberra. The Wetlands area is on a part of the Molonglo River - Jerrabomberra Creek floodplain that became permanently inundated when the Molonglo River was dammed to form Lake Burley Griffin in 1964.

References

  1. Mulligans Flat to Triple in Size – Our Canberra
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